Create Beautiful Wire Nail Polish Flowers in 4 Simple Steps

I think by now, anyone with a Pinterest account has seen this post on how to make wire nail polish flowers. Or at least, you’ve seen the imagery from the original site, which is in Russian, and has been torn apart and re-shared half a dozen times. (I did some digging and found the real source, which you should always try to do.)

They’re beautiful, but like most things on Pinterest, they come with some degree of skepticism. In this case I was 100 percent sure there was NO WAY this was going to work.

Oh boy, was I wrong.

Making these is THE MOST FUN. And, they’re rather beautiful as well!

Being a wire artist, the wire part was easy. I quickly did up a series of loops and turned them into a flower shape, then pulled out my purple nail polish with severe doubts. Imagine my shock, surprise, and delight when the science of surface tension and the brilliance of Pinterest turned out to be right!

I was immediately smitten and went straight out to buy ten million new colors of nail polish.

I then proceeded to make a bunch more flowers, making errors and learning along the way, and, being me, pushing the limits to see what else I could do.

Let me share with you the techniques I found and the pitfalls to avoid.

Warning: This is possibly extremely addictive. Proceed with caution.

First things first: this will make a mess.

There’s basically no way around it. So, be prepared with something to catch the drips. I like using these not-quite-vinyl-not-quite-plastic placemats from the dollar store to go under my messy projects like varnish, paint, patinas and now nail polish!

The original post used a mandrel (pen, pencil, marker, etc) to create the loops but seeing as I just wrote a book called Freeform Wire Art Jewelry, I went ahead and did them by hand, the way I show in the book.

Lesson: A loose twist will come back to haunt you. Make sure that at the base of each loop, the wire doesn’t create extra loops. See the blue one? See the open twists? Yeah, don’t do that. If there isn’t a closed system the polish is a nightmare to get attached.

Once you have your twists and loops set up, I suggest using the bottom part of the wire to create a “stand” so it can hold itself up.

Here’s the basic technique for creating wire nail polish flowers.

Step 1:

Use the flat of the brush, at an angle, starting at the twist, to slowly begin covering the top of the loop with polish.

Step 2:

Moving very slowly, keeping the brush touching BOTH sides of the loop, spread the polish across the flat of the loop. Flat. I mean it.

Lesson: Do NOT wipe the brush on the side of the bottle. Your every instinct will balk against this lesson. Trust me. If you tap the excess off, it won’t be enough (hence the drips at the end).

Step 3:

Let the brush slide off the edge of the loop.

Lesson: You can only coat spaces which can be covered from edge to edge by the brush.

Step 4:

Keep it really flat and finish by pulling down and off the loop.

Lesson: Newer polish works better than old. The new stuff was nice and smooth and the brush was clean and pliable. Huge difference.

Pretty great, right? Sometimes it doesn’t work, sometimes it busts (think of it like a bubble and be gentle), sometimes it takes a bunch of tries. But you can do it. Keep it flat and stay patient.

Variations

So at this point I’m basically jumping up and down wondering what else can I do. What about double loops?

The dual colors aren’t perfect here, as I was just experimenting but you can do it. Color the inner loops first, then when they’re completely dry, do the larger color from the back.

What about more loops? How crazy can I get?

Turns out, not very. The more complicated it is, the harder it is to coat. Larger spaces are more difficult, as well, but with some patience you can get them..

On the failed experiment below (on the left, it bust open because the space wasn’t closed, while the bottom space was too large to coat), after it had dried overnight, I poked at the transparent part with my pliers — two pokes and it busted open. The thicker part, though, took quite a few taps with metal pliers without breaking. So they’re fragile, but have some resilience as well.

The neat thing about these simple pieces is they can be stacked — push one inside the other at the stem and voila! More complex flowers.

PS: I know you were wondering and yes, glitter nail polish totally works.

What else can we do? Leaves? Oh, yes.

To make a leaf shape in wire, bend the wire completely in half into a hairpin, then grab the ends and pull the wire back open into a curved shape. These were ridiculously easy to coat but I found this green was smooth and easy to work with, as well.

I wanted to do something even more interesting though. What about, say, a rose, or a camilla? Well I tried a couple of spiral options and they’re not bad! These were really tricky to coat though so get lots of practice in first, and make sure your wire crosses itself and closes up the spaces.

As for what to do with them… well, I’ve used beads in wire flowers on necklaces before:

And I’m thinking these will serve really well in similar settings. The long wire tails let me attach them to pretty much anything. And in the meantime, tiny little nosegay bouquets sure never hurt anyone!

Creating wire nail polish flowers is not only easy, but fun and just a little addictive, as well! Excuse me, I need to go make some more!

Free Guide! Make Wirework Wonders

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28 Comments

auntie emJuly 6th, 2015

These are so pretty and nostalgic to me. (I was a teen in the 70’s) We did a similar craft with twisting wire to make the petals and then dipping the loops into the medium to coat them. The end result was very similar to your designs but of course the colours were very few. Nail polish comes in so many beautiful colours now.
Thanks for sharing your fun creations! 🙂

I was a tiny child in the 70s so I didn’t know that was a thing! TWICE AS COOL 🙂 I had SO much fun with these colours. I like painting on just one side, though, so the wire shows through – different effect than dipping would be. Super fun nonetheless!

I am assuming that once the first coat has thoroughly dried that it might be possible to add a second coat of the same colour to deepen the shade. Why not add detail to the first coat by using a second colour to accent the design?

I do these all the time, I usually add 5 coats as they are extremely delicate once dried. Then I do approx 3 thick coats of clear overtop and underneath to reinforce strength:) I use styrofoam to stand flowers as I do them. And let them stand up to dry overnight.

We did a similar project at a Girl Scout event in the 70s. I was about 8 years old at the time, so I don’t remember what the product was called, but it came in little cans, about the size of a paint sample, and you dipped the wire into it. The stuff we used came out more translucent, they reminded me of stained glass. I was thinking about those flowers recently and wondered if there was anything similar on the market today. This is really clever. I guess if you had a group y

We did a similar project at a Girl Scout event in the 70s. I was about 8 years old at the time, so I don’t remember what the product was called, but it came in little cans, about the size of a paint sample, and you dipped the wire into it. The stuff we used came out more translucent, they reminded me of stained glass. I was thinking about those flowers recently and wondered if there was anything similar on the market today. This is really clever. I guess if you used cheap polish and poured it into a small tray you might be able to dip it.

Hi Gayle
I have just started this awesome craft. My husband gave me all sorts of wire from his garage to try, although it works, it does not look as pretty as yours, what wire do you use?
Thanks for the awesome tutorial, answered a few questions I needed to know.

I love using this technique to make flowers. Thank you for posting this! After coming across it I finally succeeded in making the flowers and a couple of other pieces. Does anyone have any tips to make the nail polish stronger? (Even after several coats of nail polish?) I’ve come across 2 techniques suggested that I’m currently trying as we speak.

Hi, I am wondering if anyone has tried any different polish types? For instance has anyone tried Gel polish with the primer, top coat and actually cook it under the light? Has any one tried Shellac? Is there any difference between polish from say walmart as opposed to getting a professional polish from a salon? Are any of these polishes more durable then the others? Thanks!

Hi Gayle, I love this post!
This is such a great idea and a great way to use up nail polish (I have tons from being a Julep member [that’s a great company by the way]).
I love the thumbnail shown of your “Wirework Wonders” free Craftsy pattern, but when I clicked the link I got an error and couldn’t find your tut. I was really psyched about it so please let me know if it’s still available; I’d take it in PDF through email or however I can get it.

Thank you for sharing! I have been making these for about 6 years now. I enjoy making them it’s so calming for me. I love to see different ideas when it comes to this craft!. I layer mine to make fuller flowers but usually stick to one or 2 shapes for petals. I like the spiral idea and will try it in my next batch. Thank u for the inspiration!
Also try using styrofoam to stand flowers as u fill them! Makes it so easy to paint them and let them dry!
What do u use for the center of flowers? I typically use sequins or gems/crystals but looking for something new:)